The explosion of the car bomb in northern Syria kills at least 20

The country’s presidency says at least 20 people, most of them women, were killed in an attack on a car in northern Syria.

The Civil Defense in Syria, also known as the White Helmets, said that a car full of explosives exploded on a major road in the southern suburbs of Manbij as a flat truck carrying about 30 agricultural workers.

The agency had earlier put the death toll in 15, including 11 women and three girls. 15 other women and girls, some of whom were cash.

The presidency pledged to ensure that the perpetrators of what he described as a “terrorist” would face “the most severe penalties.”

There was no immediate claim from any armed groups of the bombing, which was the bloodiest since the rebel forces ’forces toppled Bashar al -Assad in December.

The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition led by the US -backed Kurdish, which controls most of northeastern Syria, condemned the attack as a “criminal act” threatening the “national fabric unit”.

Earlier, the head of the media claimed that such bombings were among the “basic tactics” used by the Turkish -subsidized factions known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), which SDF was fighting in the Manbij region during the past two months.

SNA did not comment on the claim. However, the Islamic Council in Türkiye, based in Türkiye, accused SDF of being behind the explosion.

The Monday’s car bombing was the second such in the Manbij area in just three days.

The Civil Defense in Syria said that two children and a woman were among the four people who were killed by an explosion in a street in the city center.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK -based monitoring group, said that the explosion was near SNA and that nine people were killed, including many pro -Turkish fighters.

With the collapse of the Assad regime, SNA launched an attack to capture the lands of the west of the Euphrates River that SDF had been held since it exited the Islamic Jihadist Group (IS) in 2016.

SNA took control of Manbij on December 9, after the fighters withdrew from the SDF Military Council. But since then, SDF has tried to restore the region by launching a counter -attack.

Türkiye wants to push SDF away from its borders because it looks at the Kurdish militias that dominate the coalition, the YPG units (YPG), as a terrorist organization. YPG is an extension of the Kurdistan (PKK), which fought for the Kurdish autonomy in Türkiye for decades.

The car’s bombing came amid talks between the transitional government in Syria and SDF in the future of the militia coalition.

The commander of SDF, Mazloum Abdi, met President Ahmed Al -Sharra in Damascus last week, The Associated Press news news agency On Sunday, the two sides were negotiating with the help of Western mediators.

He said, referring to the many religious and ethnic groups in the country: “Our vision of Syria is a decentralized, secular and civil state based on democracy that preserves the rights of all its components,” referring to the numerous religious and ethnic groups in the country.

When asked if he was ready to solve SDF, Abd said that in principle, he wanted to be part of the Ministry of Defense in Syria and part of the country’s defense strategy, but the details should still be discussed, according to AP.

Shara, whose Islamic group led the rebellious attack that ended Assad’s rule for 24 years, said Turkish television last month that he wanted to disarm the Syrian Kurdish groups.

He said, “Preventing bloodshed and treating everyone on an equality is our top priority. Therefore, we believe that all weapons should be under the control of the state,” he said.